Kings Court Nursing Home

Updated 4 March 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Kings Court Nursing Home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the CQC. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We received feedback from the local authority who work with the service. This information helps support our inspections. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the provider, registered manager, assistant manager, senior care workers and care workers. We spoke with one visiting professional We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the quality audits, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 4 March 2022

About the service

Kings Court Nursing Home is a residential care home providing personal care to 22 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 29 people in one adapted building.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

This was a targeted inspection that considered the key question safe. Based on our inspection of safe we found the service did not have a system in place to record the vaccination status of visiting professionals, nor were they asking to see evidence of vaccination. It has been a requirement for registered managers to see evidence that visiting professionals are double vaccinated against COVID-19 since 11 November 2021. Following the inspection, the registered manager acted and implemented an effective process.

All visitors were screened for symptoms of COVID-19 and were required to show a negative Lateral Flow Device (LFD) test result before they entered the home. Visiting took place in a designated area of the home. Unless a person was unable to access the visiting area, in such cases visits took place in the persons bedroom. People and most relatives were happy with these arrangements.

Several areas in the home were in need of maintenance and refurbishment, as a result infection prevention and control (IPC) risks were not always mitigated. Some of these concerns had been picked up when the registered manager and maintenance team completed audits of the home, but not all of the concerns found had been identified prior to the inspection.

Hazards such as chemical and maintenance equipment were not stored safely. The registered manager acted ensuring all hazards were locked away.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe at Kings Court Nursing home. Staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard the people they were caring for and had received safeguarding training. However, not all staff were up to date with their mandatory training, including safeguarding, infection control and moving and handling training.

There were sufficient staff to meet the needs of the people at the home. The registered manager used a dependency tool to ensure they could meet the needs of people before accepting new admissions to the home.

Medicines were administered and stored safely by suitably trained staff.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection.

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 15 September 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns about the visiting policy at the home. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe section of this report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this report.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified a breach in relation to evidencing vaccination status of visiting professionals and the maintenance of the home.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.